Method and apparatus for mineral wool manufacture



Dec. 26, 1944. G. T. PEAR CE 2,365,970. A

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MINERAL WOOL MANUFACTURE Filed Oct. 28, 1941INVENTOR $44: Z PEA/P W A ORNEY Patented Dec. 26, 1944 METHOD ANDAPPARATUS FOR. MINERAL WOOL MANUFACTURE Gale '1. Pearce, Somervlile, N.1., asslgnor to Johns-Manville Corporation, New York, N. .Y.,' acorporation of New York Application October 28, 1941, Serial No. 416,813

4 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in the manufacture ofmineral wool felts and,

more particularly, "to an apparatus and method for producing relativelylow density felts. It will be understood that the term mineral wool isemployed herein in a generic sense to denote fibres or products formedfrom fibres made from rock, slag, glass and other such raw materials andmixtures thereof.

conventionally, mineral wool is manufactured by disintegrating a moltenstream of a suitable raw material into a multiplicity of fibres by meansof a steam blast or the like. A binder is usually applied adjacent theblast by dripping, spraying, or otherwise injecting the binder into thesuspension of fibres. The suspension is carried at a high velocity, dueto the high pressure blast employed for disintegrating the moltenmaterial, into a blow chamber where the fibres settle from the streamonto the floor to for a felt. Due to the high velocity of the air streamcarrying the fibres, the fibres are retained until sufilciently largemasses have accumulated to break through or around the air stream.Particularly where low density felts are desired, the

, accumulations of fibres have prevented the at-' tainment of asuccessful product and have caused non-uniformity of density and thepresence of rope-like masses in the felt.

An object of the instant invention is to provide an apparatus which willproduce a more individual felting of the fibres than heretoforeobtained.

Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus including abaffle located in the path of the stream of fibres, the baflie being ofa character to divert the stream and provide a quiet zone wherein thefibres may settle in more or less individualized form.

A further object of the invention is to provide a bafiie of the typereferred to above, which is constructed and arranged to prevent anysubstantial building up of binder and unfiberized particles thereon.-

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a method offorming mineral wool felts in which individualized felting of the fibresis increased.

My invention will be more fully understood and further objects andadvantages thereof will become apparent when reference is made to themore detailed description thereof which is to follow and to theaccompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view, with parts broken away for cleamess ofillustration, of an apparatus in accordance with the invention; and

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 and lookingin the direction indicated by the arrows.

Referring now to the drawing, there is shown a melting furnace, whichmay be of any conventional design such as a cupola or tank furnace,.

wool forming materials flow from the cupola and fall in the form of astream into the path of a jet '2 of high pressure steam or the likeissuing from a nozzle M. The jet shreds the molten material into a greatmultiplicity of fine fibres and some proportion of unfiberized particlesor shot, all of which are suspended in and carried by the high velocitygaseous stream created by the jet. A suitable binder may be projectedinto the suspension of fibres, for example, as by spraying the binder bymeans of a nozzle It. The suspended fibres "settle on the floor of thechamber which preferably comprises a continuously moving foraminousconveyor, as indicated at 22. The steam and air entering with the fibresescape thr ugh a suitable port in the upper end of the changer (notshown), or, if a suction chamber is located below the conveyor to aid inthe felting action, the steam and air are drawn through the conveyor bythe suction. The conveyor 22 carries the newly formed felt from the blowchamber.

In accordance with the instant invention, a baflie 24 is located withinthe blow chamber in the path of the fibrous stream and relatively ad-=jacent to entrance port 20. In the preferred embodiment, the bafflecomprises a rotatable relatively smooth-surfaced, cylindrical drum withits axis below the line of the main force of the blast entering the blowchamber. As indicated particularly in Fig. 2, the drum may be mounted ona suitable axle 25 carried in bearings 28 secured to the walls of theblow chamber. However, it will be understood that any suitablearrangement may be provided for rotatably mounting the drum. Preferably,the drum is freely rotatable and is of such diameter and width that themajor portion of the fibre stream will impinge thereon above the axis ofthe drum.

In operation the steam and air or other gases carrying the fibres enterthe blow chamber at high velocity and impinge against the surface of thedrum ill'substantially as indicated in Fig. 1. The gases are deflectedupwardly by the drum whereby there is created beyond the drum and uponconveyor 22. Due to the deflection of thestream from the main feltingzone, the tendency of the fibres to build up ropes or masses before theywill settle from the stream is eliminated and a substantiallyindividualized felting results.

Drum 24 may be mounted for free rotation whereby it is rotated by theimpingement oi the gaseous stream thereon, or it may be rotated by anysuitable mechanical means, (not shown) as desired. In any event, itsdirection of rotation is as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1, so thatits upper surface travels. in the same direction as and at a speedcomparable with the velocity of the stream. The rotation of the drumbaiile prevents the building up thereon of substantial accumulations ofbinder and nnfiberized particles, which at this stage retain substantialadhesiveness, without in any way deleteriously afiecting the deflectingaction of the baffle.

Having thus described my invention in rather full detail, it will beunderstood that these details need not be strictly adhered to but thatvarious changes and modifications will suggest themselves to one skilledinthe art, all falling within the scope of the invention as defined bythe subjoined claims.

What I claim is:

1. In an apparatus including means for forming mineral wool fibers andsuspending them in a gaseous stream and a chamber including an entrancefor receiving said stream, the improvement comprising a rotatable battlein the path of said stream and within said chamber relatively adjacentsaid entrance with its axis below the center line of said stream and atsubstantially a right angle thereto, said baiiie diverting said streamupwardly and creating a relatively dead air zone beyond th bafflethrough which said fibers will settle by gravity onto the floor of saidchamber beyond said battle in interfelted relation- 1 ship.

2. In an apparatus comprising means for forming mineral wool fibers andsuspending them in a gaseous stream, and a blow chamber including anentrance port for receiving said stream, the improvement comprising acylindrical battle within said blow chamber adjacent said port and inthe path of said stream, and rotatable on an axis below the center lineof said stream and at substantially a right angle thereto, said banleextending substantially across'said stream and diverting said streamupwardly and creating a relatively dead air zone beyond said baiiiethrough which said fibers settle by gravity onto the fioor of thechamber beyond said baille in interielted relationship.

3. In an apparatus comprising means for forming mineral wool fibers andsuspending them in a gaseous stream, and means for receiving saidfibers, the improvement comprising a horizontal, freely rotatable,cylindrical drum in the path of and extending substantially acros saidstream, and with its axis below the center line of said stream and atsubstantially a right angle thereto, said drum diverting said streamupwardly and creating a relatively dead air zone beyond said drum. inwhich said fibers settle in substantially individualized felted form.

4. The method of forming a low density mineral wool felt comprisingforming a gaseous stream of mineral wool fibers and directing saidstream against means rotatable on an axis below the center line of saidstream and extending at substantially a right angle thereto and having acylindrical surface extending across said stream diverting said streamupwardly from its normal path of movement and creating a relatively deadair zone beyond said baille through which said fibers settle by gravityand in relatively individualized form to form a felted layer beyond saidbaflle.

GALE T. PEARCE.

